Obama, Clinton praise Garcia Marquez

Apr. 18, 2014
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez / Eduardo Verdugo, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Not every writer gets tributes from two U.S. presidents, but the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez was not every writer.

"With the passing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the world has lost one of its greatest visionary writers -- and one of my favorites from the time I was young," said President Obama in a statement.

Garcia Marquez, the Nobel Prize winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), died Thursday at age 87.

In another statement, former President Bill Clinton said that "from the time I read One Hundred Years of Solitude more than 40 years ago, I was always amazed by his unique gifts of imagination, clarity of thought, and emotional honesty."

Clinton said that Garcia Marquez "captured the pain and joy of our common humanity in settings both real and magical. I was honored to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years."

Obama, noting that he and millions of other fans referred to the author as Gabo, described One Hundred Years of Solitude as a masterpiece.

"I once had the privilege to meet him in Mexico, where he presented me with an inscribed copy that I cherish to this day," Obama said.

The president also said of Garcia Marquez:

"As a proud Colombian, a representative and voice for the people of the Americas, and as a master of the 'magic realism' genre, he has inspired so many others -- sometimes even to pick up the pen themselves. I offer my thoughts to his family and friends, whom I hope take solace in the fact that Gabo's work will live on for generations to come."